Cadmus: The Underground
by rlb190
Summary: You may think Cadmus is done for, but not quite yet. Thousand of test subjects. Hundreds of kidnappings. One goal: The perfect world. The backup system for when the heroes fail. Welcome to The Underground.
1. Chapter 1

At 6am, the wakeup alarm went off. Maya Atoli groaned and leaned forwards. This wasn't going to be fun. She stumbled out of her pod and felt her bare feet go cold on the floor. She jumped back into her pod in shock. The cold was the one thing she hated about Cadmus. The Overseer glared at her from the pod and she sighed and walked out into the frigid cold. Picky.

She bounced from foot to foot as she walked to the bathroom, where she relieved herself and changed from her nightclothes, a long sleeve white shirt and long white pants, into her dayclothes, white pants and a white tank top. Most clones and DNA subjects wore jumpsuits, but it was their choice to wear them.

Maya had gone away from the jumpsuits towards pants and bottoms.

Some of the clones and subjects had picked to wear long sleeves, as to hide the scars, but Maya thought that was dumb. After all, they all had them.

She finished and walked out from the exit door to the main hallway. Armed guards stood every ten feet or so. It was make sure they didn't fight with each other.

She stuck her arm in the machine and it read her barcode on her inner right arm. It was kinda big, but it didn't matter to Maya. It also scanned the numbers under it, tracking her schedule for the day;

_Wake up - 6am to 7:30_

_Breakfast- 7:30 to 8:00_

_Testing 8:00 to 9:00_

_Break 9:00 to 9:10_

_Training 9:10 to 10:30_

_Memory Training 10:30 to 11:30_

_Classes 11:30 to 1:30_

_Lunch 1:30 to 2:30_

_Testing 2:30 to 3:30 _

_Free Time 3:30 to 4:00_

_Training 4:00 to 5:00_

_Sports 5:00 to 6:00_

_Break 6:00 to 6:10_

_Dinner 6:10 to 6:40_

_Testing 6:40 to 7:30_

_Free Time 7:30 to 8:30_

_Bed 8:30_

_Lights Out 9:00_

Her eyes fluttered on it for a minute, quickly scanning the printed ink on her arm, next to the barcode. She bit her lip. It was a testing day, something she didn't favor. It was exhausting and painful.

She sighed. That means the next day would be full of brain games and classes, to recover from the previous day.

She made her way down the hall to the mess hall. She scanned faces of clones and subjects, searching for a similar face to eat with. Some clones weren't allowed to join the common populace, because they couldn't be trusted to stay calm and collected. Sometimes fights broke out, but hardly ever.

She had been suffering ever since her best friend Ryan disappeared.

Ryan was a nice kid, a clone of Amethyst. He seemed pretty smart to Maya. In fact, he was the one who told her she should pick a name. Then one day he started talking about something called "freedom". The word was confusing to Maya, in fact, it still was. He asked her, "Do you ever think of freedom?" once. A day later, he was gone. No one mentioned it, but they all knew it. Sometimes they disappeared. The failed ones.

Maya shuddered thinking about it.

She grabbed her metal tray and scanned her barcode. She watched as food was pushed onto her plate according to her diet. Whether she needs more protein or carbs, they took care of it. She pushed her way down the line to get her drink, when someone tapped her on the shoulder.

"Boo!" her friend said, and Maya rolled her eyes.

"Hey Project EM." She laughed to her. Her friend winked. "_Appelez-moi Tilly!"_ she said. Tilly didn't speak any English, but she was working on it. She could at least understand English. Maya translated this into "Call me Tilly!" She crinkled her eyes. "Tilly?" she asked.

**(A/N: Whenever someone is speaking another language then English, It will be in Italic)**

"_I had a dream last night. A lady with blonde hair like me was calling me Tilly."_

Maya shrugged. "Okay, whatever you say. But don't let the mods hear you." She warned.

"_No duh." _Tilly waved her hand at it. They both finished getting their food and drink. Maya looked at her tray. Vegetables and fruit and beans. No meat.

"Crap." She muttered. Tilly looked at Maya's tray.

"_They're cutting down your lean meats_." She muttered. Maya sighed at Tilly's tray, which had one of the best items ever, chicken.

"Speak for yourself." Maya muttered as they headed over for their table. Maya sat on the metal bench across from Tilly, and they began to eat. Another person joined them.

"Hey Project Ark." Maya waved to him. He put his tray down next to Maya. "I've picked a name." he said. Maya rolled her eyes. "You too?" he shrugged. You have a name." he said. Maya muttered something under her breath.

"_What is it? Mine's Tilly." _Tilly said. He looked at Tilly. "Cool, I'm Dustin." He said, grinning. "What made you pick that?" asked Maya. Dustin started into his beets. "I dunno. I just like the name." he waved his spoon. "Everyone is picking names now. It's all the rage." Tilly smiled. "_You guys are so weird_."

Dustin grinned. Maya stared glumly at her spinach. Another person joined the four seater table.

"Hola everybody!" he said as he sat down next to Tilly. "Hey Project Tech Lantern 3." Maya said. He looked a little offended. "I picked a name, Maya."

"No way!" Maya slammed her dead on the table. "Names are so overrated!" she said. "YOU have a name. Mine's Harold Jordan." Tilly laughed. "_We should just call you Dill because of all the pickles you eat._" He nodded. "I'm cool with that." He said.

Across the room, a new subject stood around, looking for the right table nervously. She had just been released into the populace, and was damn terrified. She checked her barcoded arm. Table seven…

She looked and around and spotted it. There were already two boys and a girl at the table. She walked over shyly towards the table, finally reaching it. She looked at each boy had green skin and messy black hair, the only girl at the table had blonde haired tied in a ponytail and green eyes. The other boy looked about 17, with hazel eyes and brown hair. "Um… hi." She said, shifting from foot to foot, her eyes downcast. The girl smiled. "Hi! You must be Hana!" the girl patted the spot next to her. Sit here!" she said. The smiled made Hana relax a little. "I'm Project Supersonic! But you can call me Poppy, I really like your name, Hana. Where'd you get it? It's strange not to be a project name, but lots of people are taking names ever since-."

"Okay!" the boy with the green skin said. "She's Poppy. If you don't stop her, she'll ramble for hours." Hana gave a shy smiled and slid down next to Poppy. "I'm Project Shift, but you can call me Arthur." The boy next to him waved. "I'm Project MOL. But I picked the name Sam. Short for Samuel." He said.

Hana waved.

"So, is this your first time in populace? Oh wait, of course it is! What's with your name?" asked Poppy, rapid fire.

"Yes, it is." Hana said quietly, but loud enough to hear. "Dr. Fujiohso named me Hana after his sister." She said. "Oooh! That is SO SO SO SO cool! You know what? I wish someone would have named me. I almost picked the last name, 'Titsworth'! Can you believe it? Poppy Titsworth!" she laughed.

"Poppy, now would be a good time to shut up." Sam said. Arthur grinned and pushed around his tofu on his plate. "Ooh snap!" Poppy grinned as well. "Well, at least I don't have Testing today!" she said singing a little. Sam frowned. "Don't remind me." He grumbled. "Testing?" asked Hana. Poppy grabbed Hana's arm. "Hmm… All you have is the beginner classes today. That make sense." She said.

"Testing normally lasts for an hour or two, three at the most." Arthur explained. "They basically mess with your DNA more and try to improve you. Sometimes they go too far and accidents happen. I know this one guy went blind when they tried to enhance his vision!" he said.

"There was no guy!" Sam protested.

Arthur wiggled his eyebrows. "There was too. I saw it on the cameras. Turn out Lex Luther had arranged the whole thing! He was training to be Green Arrow's new side kick." He paused. Poppy raised her eyebrows, not talking for once. Hana's eyes were wide.

"They went to a warehouse where Cadmus ambushed him and Green Arrow. No idea what happened to Arrow, but the kid was kidnapped and taken hear. He had some gene thing. They thought that they could give him the best vision ever, but of course, fist, they tortured him for information." His voice hung in the air.

"No way Cadmus would do that. They're nice!" Poppy protested.

"Let me finish!" Arthur said. "Anyways, they gave him this eye thing right? But he went near blind, they tried again and he went completely dark. But the thing was, he still had perfect aim, even though he was blind. In fact, it was better than before! They ended up letting him go in DC. He was one of the people in Power Purge. **(AN/ You can read about that in my story, 'Only Hope')**

"No way!" Hana whispered. Arthur nodded. "Yes, way! I have no idea what happened to him next after that."

"Do you know his name? For proof?" asked Sam.

"Yeah. Connor Smith." Arthur said. "Anyways, sometimes it can go wrong, but he wasn't raised by Cadmus like us. It never happens now. But it hurts sometimes and feel really sleepy after, so you get the rest of the hour to recharge in your pod." He said.

"Oh geez…" Hana muttered.

Poppy placed an arm around Hana's shoulder. "Great! Now you made her scared!" she looked Hana dead in the eyes. "Listen, Cadmus are the good guys. They won't let anything happen to you."

Suddenly, across the room, table went flying. Instantly, they were all on their feet. Wind started to swirled around the room. It smelled like metal.

A girl was on her knees, gripping her head. She had short black, nearly purple hair and a deep skin color. She was staring at the floor. Pure power seemed to surge from her. Three other people were standing around her.

It was Maya.

It happened sometimes. The power overwhelmed them, causing breaks of pure power to explode from whoever.

Tilly's blonde hair was waving all over her face. She pushed through the wave of power and grabbed Maya, wrapping her in death grip that could have been a hug. Suddenly, the wind dropped down, and all the metal trays that had been flying around stopped in midair and dropped down.

Some doctors and guards ran up to Maya and Tilly, who was still holding her friend, who had slumped down in her arms. One doctor picked up Maya bridal style, and another crouched down next to Tilly to see if she was okay.

The doctor carried Maya past Hanna, Poppy, Sam, and Arthur's table. Her eyes were closed, but fluttering. Poppy spoke; "Will she be alright?" she asked. The doctor nodded, stopping to talk with Poppy. "Of course, you've had this happen to you a few times. It's just a surge." He told her and smiled warmly.

"I'll give you a report on her later." He walked away.

Poppy faced Hana. "See? Now would a bad guy do that?" Hana nodded and looked at Tilly, who was being helped up. She seemed fine, but it must have shocked her.

'Resume Breakfast' said The Voice. It came through the speaker on the wall. Hana realized that a speaker was everywhere in Cadmus. Huh.

Poppy slid down back into her seat, and the rest of the table mates followed. Hana leaned in. "Does that really happen a lot?" she asked. Sam nodded. "Oh yeah. Maybe twice a day, to different clones and subjects of course. Yesterday it was that Project Argo girl right?" Poppy nodded. "Yeah! We have the same math class together. The teacher got struck in the temple with a flying book." She said and Arthur held back a laugh. "I guess algebra IS good for something after all." The entire table cracked up. After the gales of laughter died down, the mood at the table was different. Not just shy friendship, but trust.

They resumed eating, and soon after, the bell rang, singling that breakfast was over. Hana checked her arm. Where to next?

Sam walked down the main hallway. He didn't like today at all. Testing. It hurt, and he was scared. He hated to admit it, but he was. "It's natural to be scared." They told him when he was tested on for the first time. "But you'll get used to it. They always do." You get new scars.

He approached the door. It slid open, and he walked inside. The chemical smell made his stomach lurch. A doctor in a white lab coat walked up to him. "Project MOL, come with me. He nodded and followed the doctor like a puppy. There were a few others there, but he didn't even look at them. They didn't look at him. They were all scared.

So was he.

He followed her into a separate, white room. She told him to stay and she left, the door disappearing as she walked away. A voice came on through the speaker in the plain white room.

"This will test your powers and mind. Be prepared."

A slot slid open in the room. An animal came out. A panther.

"In five seconds, the panther will attack you. You pick what to do next."

_.1._

_Now!_

The panther lunged. Sam moved to the right, to avoid the teeth and claws. The panther turned and faced him head on, and Sam saw the collar. The panther was just being controlled.

He placed his hands on the panther, and swung using it's neck, landing on top of the panther. He placed his hand on the collar. It started again. The rushing feeling, his eyes getting warm, then his hand…

The collar disintegrated.

The panther stopping fight and stared at Sam, black eyes knowing. Sam hopped off the panther, which rolled over onto its back, like "Pet me."

He bent down and rubbed its belly. He smiled to himself, the panther was kinda cute.

The voice came on again. "Kill it."

He froze. He couldn't do it. What if? He stared at the panther. He placed his hand on its stomach.

"_I'm sorry_." He thought. The panther disintegrated.

Meanwhile, Dustin was also getting tested. But this time, he was out in the open. The floor in front of him slid open, revealing hot coals. He stared at the coals as the doctor charted down his reaction. He held a stop watch. "Project Ark, we need you to walk across the coals. It will help resist you to heat." He nodded and slowly put one foot on the hot coals.

It burned. Red, not white hot pain surged through his body, and he bit his lip to keep from crying out. His foot was searing with pain. He took a shuddering breath and took another painful step. The doctor nodded. "As I thought." He muttered. "His resistant to damage is incredible. Normally they jump off the coals or yell…" he scribbled down something as he took the next step.

He could feel blisters beginning to rise from his feet. He started to sweat, his will was crumbling. He took one step, then another, and another. It took only five steps after that, but it seemed like he took a thousand. Finally he stumbled onto the floor, suddenly grateful for the cold air in Cadmus. His feet burned, and sat down, trying to get weight off of his feet.

The doctor went over and looked at his feet. It was red and pink, blistered and had peeling flesh, but it was healing, and fast. Five minutes later the torn flesh was healed, but his feet were still pink.

Another scar was forming.

Another day of pain.

*****Break*****

"Go."

Project Mystic 3, Or Lena Mitchell sat criss cross. A magic circle was draw in chalk around her.

She took a deep breath. "!ti morf sniev s'ti pir ot lamina siht ni doolb eht esu ot ,elcric eeht dnammoc I" she said. The animal in the middle of the circle in started to convulse and sreech. Lena added, "Gag mih!" a cloth was wrapped around its mouth. The circle began to glow and Lena closed her eyes.

She didn't want see it.

There was a horrible ripping sound, and she opened her eyes. The circle died down. The cage the animal was it was coated with crimson red, on the floor of the cage and some in the middle of the circle, were veins. Bloody and messy, all around the floor. She jumped out of the circle. "There is always a Price. Always." She muttered.

She was standing in a room with large white walls. Outside the wall, a small hallway was there, with people jotting things down.

_Don't look up, Lena. Just let them think there is no place you'd rather be…_

She grinned.

"Good job Project Mystic 3." She relaxed a little. _Thank god. They don't know._

They don't know. She's planning to escape Cadmus. Tonight.

But one person knew. Hana. She was in an orientation class when her mind began to wander. She picked up on Lena's thoughts. _Are you insane!?_ She thought. Lena winced touched head. _What the fuck? _She thought. Hana blushed in her person.

_Sorry! I just picked up on your thoughts. It happens when my mind wanders._

_Oh, if that's the case, you're forgiven._

_But really, escaping!? How on earth are you going to do that? Why would you want to?_

_I don't know who you are!_

_I'm Hana Wu._

_Wait, are you that girl with the name your creator gave you?_

_Yes.  
Oh. I'm Lena Mitchell._

_Lena?_

_Yeah._

_Where'd that come from?_

_I wasn't born in Cadmus._

_YOU WEREN'T!?_

_No. I remember everything from when I was small. I used my magic to hack into my hidden memories. I had parents! Someone from Cadmus took me away from them!_

_Whoa! No way!_

_Way!_

_So… how are you going to escape? Why?_

_I don't have a plan really. I know there are sublevels to this Cadmus building. How many, I don't know. I want to see my parents! I want to see if they still love me. I want to see the world!_

_We can do that once the-_

_No! They are never going to! Not in my lifetime. I'm leaving, tonight._

_Then I can I come with you?_

_Huh?_

_I kinda want to go too._

_Okay, fine. But don't slow me down!_

_I won't! I swear!_

_Good. What pod number are you? I'll unlock my pod then get you, then we can blow this joint._

_Pod 774?_

_Asking me or telling me?_

_Telling._

_Okay. I'm pod 770. You're not too far from me._

_Okay, but we have to deal with the mind links._

_What?_

_YOU DON'T KNOW! YOU'RE PLANNING ON ESCAPING AND YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT THE MIND LINKS?!_

_Stop yelling!_

_Sorry._

_It's okay. What are mind links?_

_They track your thoughts when you sleep. They can't track me because I already have a mind wall built up._

_Oh, crap._

_I could show you how to set up fences and restrictions, separate your mind from the world._

_Okay, show me how._

"Project Mystic 3?"

"Huh?" she said dumbly. She looked around. "Sorry, my mind wandered."

"It's okay Mystic 3. We have several objects in front of you. Knock them off the podiums."

She looked at the crème colored stand and the bricks on top of it. "Okay." She raised her hands and spoke. "smuidop emerc eht fo skcirb dipiuts eseht nwod kconk!" she said. Streams of light flew from her hands and knocked the bricks down.

She sighed. Tonight, it was going down.


	2. Chapter 2

During the break, Lena was allowed ten minutes of rest where she meditated. Or so they thought. Yes, she sat crisscross and levitated a little, but she was talking with Hana the entire time. Planning.

At lunch, Lena wasn't focused on her tofu meat and fruit. She was trying to build a mind wall. "Lena?" asked Claire, a nice girl with the DNA of Supergirl. "Huh?" she asked bluntly. Clarie waved her fork. "You aren't even talking? You alright?" she asked. Lena nodded. "Yeah. Just tired. Training." She said. and picked a little at her tofu. Claire nodded in agreement. "Oh, totally! The mods were all "hey Project Argo, lift this and lift that". She rolled her eyes and took a bite of meat. Her high metabolism ended up giving her meat at almost every meal.

"ecno em deef dna krof siht no ufot emos teg." She muttered and the fork rose up to her face, where she grabbed it and took a weak bite of tofu.

"My mana's low." She muttered. A boy took a seat across from Lena. "Already?" he asked. Lena rolled her eyes. "I need high calorie foods to sustain my mana, dumbass. Tofu won't cut it, and that all I've been eating for the past week." He winked. "That means we know you can survive on tofu." He laughed and Claire grinned. "Hey Nathan." He waved with four fingers.

"What's up, your Agro-ness?"

"Oh you know, the sky."

They fist bumped.

Lena rested her head on the table. "Um… anam ym erotser?" she said.

Nothing.

"Crap. I can't restore my own mana." She gave a sigh and closed her eyes. _Mind wall… uh… crap!_ Her mind was intercepted by Hana. _I know you're tired, Lena, but keep trying._

_My mana really is low._

_Okay, take a five minute break._

Lena sighed. "Lena-Beana? You okay?" asked another voice she opened hers weakly and looked at Alek. "Meh." She said and closed her eyes again.

"She's just sleepy because of all the partying she did last night." Claire joked. Lena opened one eye weakly. ""I _will _hex you." She muttered. Claire smiled. "Right after a nap." Lena sighed, and Claire turned her attention to Nathan and Alek.

"So, how are my too favorite clones?" she asked. Nathan shrugged. "Man, I really hate testing." He help up his arm, which had a long, pink mark on it. "Ice." Alek winced. "Ow. I had a math test today." He said. "I got an A!" Claire reached over and patted his head. "Good boy! Now you your homework and be in bed by nine." Alek smiled and Nathan cracked up.

"Yes mom." Alek said, and suddenly they all got quiet. Mom. Such a strange word. Hardly used.

_Ready Lena?_ Came Hana through Lena's thoughts.

_Yeah. How do you do it?_

_When I first started I needed a nap every hour or so. With great power comes the need to take a nap._

_Okay, I'm ready._

_Alright. Try to block your mind. I'll try to rip through the wall._

_That makes it sound it's won't hurt._

_Maybe. Ready? Go!_

Lena winced as Hana ripped through her weak mind wall. Claire noticed. "Lena, are you alright? Really?" Lena nodded. "Low mana. Don't mind me."

_Focus Lena! Build a brick wall around your mind._

_Okay._

_Ready?_

_Yes._

_Go!_

Pain rippled through Lena's mind. "Gah!" she said, jumping up. 'Lena, what the hell?" Claire said. "Something wrong with you."

"I'm fine! It's just my low mana."

_Sorry, that may have been hard._

_No shit!_

_Again. Ready? Focus your energy on the wall. You are the wall._

_Okay._

_Go!_

It felt like pressure was building up, but no explosion of pain.

_You did it! You blocked me!_

_Great…_

_Lena, you alright?_

_I don't know._

_Okay, in that case, we can stop for the rest of lunch._

_Okay._

Lena slept a little during lunch. It felt like a minute, but soon Claire was shaking Lena awake. "Lena! Come on, lunch is over." Lena's eyes fluttered opened. Claire was standing over her. "Come on." Lena pulled her legs out from the metal bench. They felt like lead. She stood up and blinked slowly.

She wavered and her knees buckled underneath, and she fell to the ground, the world spinning, the faces of her friends blurred as her world slowly turned black.

*****Break****

"Did you hear?"

"What?"

"A girl just passed out at the end of lunch!"

"So? That happens a lot."

"No, she didn't have a surge; she just stood up then passed out."

"No way!" Kinder said. "Way." replied her best friend Lila.

Kinder shook her head, her black hair swaying. "I can't believe that!" her read head friend pondered for a second. "I think they were cutting down on her food. She was low on mana."

"See? That makes more sense _Schwein._" Kinder said. "Don't call me a pig!" Lila protested. Kinder grinned. "That's what you get for scaring me." They sat next to each other in history class, while the teacher rambled on about Cadmus.

"Kinder, what year was Cadmus founded?" the teacher asked Kinder, who had not been paying attention.

"1970?" Kinder said. "Correct." The teacher frowned. "How did you know that?" Kinder shrugged. "it says so on the screen."

The teacher blushed and changed the slide, then went on her monotone lecture.

Kinder faced Lila and leaned her face on her hand. "So, what else did you hear?" she asked her friend. "Um… Well Maya had that thing this morning."

"Of course."

"She's back in class now."

"Well, duh." The two girls looked at Maya who was jotting down notes. Then they both looked back. "Okay?" Kinder said.

"Ooh! They're going to introduce a new iteam on the menu."

"Really? What?"

"Fish."

"Oh, ew!" Kinder pinched her nose.

"I'm sure Vixen's clone will like it. Nathan."

"So they added it just for him? Like how they added fried chicken for Flash's clone?"

"I think so. I heard they were going to change the magic users' diet too. Apparently, she needs high calorie foods."

"Well, that I know. Anything else?"

Lila paused. "Nope. Nothing else."

"Geez, boring day, huh?"

"Right? Even sparring was dull."

"I feel ya. I broke the MPF in like, five seconds. How long until Free Time?"

"A few minutes." Lila said, then put her head down on the desk. "Merrrrrrrrrrrrppppppppppp." She sighed.

"Merp?"

"Totally." Lila said. "I say it when I'm bored."

"Merp." agreed Kinder.

The bell rang and the pair jumped out of their seats and raced towards the door, flying through it and down the hall towards the break room.

"Almost there!" Lila said. They swiveled around the corridor and the door to the break room slid open. They ran inside.

"DAMMIT!" they both yelled. Aaron Murphy waved from the best couch in the room.

"Ooh, missed it by five seconds. Sorry girls!" he laughed.

"Again?!" Lila groaned. Kinder slapped a hand up to her face. "I don't we're ever gonna get the couch."

"Nope!" he said. Kinder dragged Lila towards the second best couch in the room, the picked up the books they were currently trying to finish. "War and Peace" and "The Book Thief."

She tossed Lila "The Book Thief" and opened her book.

_"Well now, goodbye. Tell Denisov, at sunrise, at the first shot," said Dolohov, and he was going on, but Petya clutched at his arm._

_"Oh!" he cried, "you are a hero! Oh! How splendid it is! How jolly! How I love you!"_

_"That's all right," answered Dolohov, but Petya did not let go of him, and in the dark Dolohov made out that he was bending over to him to be kissed. Dolohov kissed him, laughed, and turning his horse's head, vanished into the darkness…_

Her mind wandered from the book.

"Lila?" she asked.

"Hmm?" she said, without taking her off the book.

"Ever think about love?" Kinder asked.

"Huh?" Lila pulled her eyes from the book. She glanced at Aaron to make sure he wasn't listening.

"Love?" she asked. Kinder nodded. "Um… No. I know we're gonna have to end up procreating, but love? No."

Kinder sighed. "I would like to fall in love." Lila smiled. "I'm sure you will. But for now, just read missy." She turned her eyes back to her book.

_Love? There is no love in Cadmus_ Lila thought. _If only there was._

******Break*****

"Give up?" asked Amaya Thal, Project Nth.

"Never!" grinned Calliope Arkana, Project Myth. She placed a hand in front of Amaya, who was thrown off of her in a tidal wave of water. "Oof!" Amaya said as she was slammed into the wall.

Amaya stood up, dripping wet. She shook her wings dry and soared into the air, a tight grip on her mace. It seemed she was about read fly over and whack Calliope with her mace, but instead, she dive bombed, dropping her wings and hitting Calliope hard to the floor. She swung her mace, and Calliope dodged the mace by rolling her head away.

The mace cracked the floor.

"Stop moving!" Amaya cursed as she flew off of Calliope. She pointed her mace at Calliope. "You are SO going to-!"

"Time's up!" said the speaker. Calliope got off of the floor and Amaya landed gently on the ground. "Good match." She said, grinning and shaking her friends' hand. Calliope nodded back.

"You have a ten minute break" said the speaker. Once it stopped talking, Amaya let out a breath and sat down crisscross.

"Man, this stinks!" she complained. Calliope sat down next to her. "How so?" she asked.

"You know Kinder and Lila?"

"Yeah."

"Well they have memory today."

"What? No way!"

"Way!" she played with her red hair, which stopped just below her shoulder blades. "Right after Free Time." She sighed and curved her wing straightening out the brown feathers. "I love having memory."

"Me too." Calliope admitted. "What your favorite?" asked Amaya.

"The moon." Calliope sighed. "It's so beautiful." Amaya smiled as she picked at the brown feathers. "I like the meadow. With the grass and the sky and the warm sun." she laughed. "I like the sun. It's so warm."

Amaya waved her hands in the cool air of Cadmus. "It's too cold here." Calliope nodded. "Yeah. It really is."

Amaya spread her wings, stretching them out and Calliope fell onto the floor on her back. She stared at the light on the ceiling.

"You know, if you squint, it kinda looks like the sun."

******Break****

He was strapped down.

Thick bindings on his wrists that secured him to the metal table.

It hurt.

They poked and prodded him. His spine. The black scarab on his spine.

They talk. He can't understand him. Don't they know when they hurt his scarab they hurt him?

Pressure points on the scarab hurt him.

He cries out from time to time, but it doesn't matter to them.

He strains against the bindings, trying to wiggle free.

All he gets is a sharp pain in his back. A needle.

The world starts to spin, and all he can think is, _Monsters._

****Break****

"Can you hit that?"

''Yeah." He swings the darts into a target placed 45 feet away. It splits the block of wood in the middle of it.

"Good job Project Stroke 125."

_I'm not Project Stroke 125. I'm Victor Greyson._

"Do it again."

He flings another dart again. It splits the pervious dart he had just thrown.

"Good." The speaker says.

_Good. Good. Good. That's all they say. I need to get out of here. But how?_

_Hello!_

_Ah! Whoa, what?_

_Hi. I couldn't help but overhear your thoughts._

_Who are you?_

_I'm Hana Wu._

_Hana Wu the girl named by_

_Yes._

_Oh._

_Yeah. Sorry for intruding _

_It's okay. What do you want?_

_We're planning an escape tonight._

_What? Really?_

_Yeah._

_Who?_

_Lena Mitchell and I, just us. You want in?_

_Of course. How are we doing it?_

_Lena's gonna us magic to unlock her pod, then she'll get me, and we can get you. We can escape through the air vents._

_What about the mind link?_

_You know about that too? Lena didn't Can you set up a wall?_

_Yeah. I can hold it for about 20 minutes._

_You just need it in your pod._

_I can do that._

_Great. Don't tip off the mods._

_Never._

_Okay. You'll need to recognize us. I have black hair that will be in a braid, Lena will be wearing a sweater tied around her waist. What pod number are you?_

_780_

_That's not too far from us._

_I'll have a knife at my belt._

_Okay. Be careful until maybe 9:10. They all go for coffee before they start the night shift._

_Great, see you then._

"Project Stroke 125, hit the target all the way to your right." He flung the dart to the right, hitting the red and white target square on. He looked at the clock.

It was 6:00.

Only 3 hours to go.

*****Break****

"Project Mystic 3?" asked a voice. Lena gasped and lifted herself up, slamming her head into glass. She was in the medical pod.

"Ow!" she rubbed her head.

"Lena, what do you remember?"

"I was at lunch?" she said, thinking. "And I was feeling really sleepy because of my low mana. Then I…" she wrinkled her nose.

"You passed out. We were testing for how long you could live without high calorie food. Tomorrow and tonight, we'll be changing your diet back to high calorie. Are you alright?"

She nodded. "Yes, thank you." The pod opened and Lena stumbled out. She blinked at the doctor. "What time is it?"

"7:00. You can head over to the Mess Hall to eat dinner. Your man levels are going back to normal now. You gave us quite a scare."

"Sorry Doctor. I'll head over now." she walked down the hallway and a thought struck her.

_I won't be here tomorrow._

She walked down the hallway towards the Mess Hall, and she walked through the door once it opened. It suddenly got quiet. Everyone was staring at her.

_Glad to see you're okay. _Hana said to her through Lena's thoughts.

_I'm fine._ Lena walked pass Hana's table.

_Oh, by the way, someone else is coming._

Lena scanned her barcode and got her food, all high calories. T_hat's good_. She thought. My mana will be high tonight.

_Oka. Who is it?_

_His name is Victor Greyson_

_Okay. What pod number?_

_780_

_Not too far. Okay. See you tonight._

_You bet._

The link disappeared and Lena walked over to her table.

"Good god, Lena! What the hell happened to you?"

"Huh?" she looked in the metal of her tray. Her eyes were bloodshot, and she deep circles under her eyes.

"Oh. I guess from my low mana levels. They were testing me on how far I could live on low calorie food." She motioned to her tray. "They fixed it." She said. she started to eat.

"Good. I was worried." Said Alek, smiling at Lena, who blushed.

_Hana?_

_Yeah?_

_Just us three?_

_Yeah. Why?_

_Are we going to come back for the others?_

_You bet. We can't free them without help, though._

_What if we get caught?_

_I erase our mind so we don't tell shit._

_That works._

_**Will you two shut up so I can eat?**_

_Sorry Victor._

_Geez, ATTIUIDE!_

_**Hey Magic Queen, you'll need me tonight.**_

_Whatever. Hana, get rid of the link._

_Sure thing._

Lena dug in to her food. She couldn't quite remember a time when it tasted so good.

_Tonight._

Hana was quiet during the meal. She was glad for Poppy's endless chatter. Yea, she was scared, but she was leaving. No doubt about it.

Tonight.

Victor ate his food listening to Mu Parker and Rian Rase argue. He was ready. He was leaving.

_Tonight._

Tonight, was it. They were leaving. Dead, or Alive.

*****Break****

"Time for bed." Said the speaker. Victor went into the bathroom and changed into his long white nightclothes. He slipped the weapons he smuggled into the tie around his pants. He looked at himself in the mirror.

This was it. He left and headed for his pod.

Lena pulled her book of spells out from her shoe. She went over the spells as she went to her pod.

"I'm practicing. I need to remember these for tomorrow's test." She told a guard who stopped her. She showed him the page of harmless levitating spells.

Hana moved quietly to her pod. She wondered if she'll have to use her powers tonight. Hopefully not.

"Lights Out." said the speaker. All the lights dimmed and it became quiet and warm inside the pods. Hana fought not to fall asleep.

Lena counted the minutes in her head. After ten minutes, she raised a hand in the dark pod. "Etaerc a elbbub fo elbisivni ruomalg!" she hoped she became invisible.

"tuo kaens ot snalp ohw esle enoyna dna flesyM ,anaH ,rotciV ees ton saremac eht tel!" she whispered.

"dop siht kcolnu." She whispered. She heard the quiet click of the pod unlocking. She slipped out of the pod and shut it quietly.

No shout no alarm or anything.

_How long do we have, Hana?_

_About 20 or so minutes. The night shift doesn't really start until 9:30. Victor, you on?_

_**Yep.**_

_Okay, good. Move to my pod, Lena._

_K._

She walked quietly over to Hana, who waited for her. "dop siht kcolnu." She whispered. A few moments later, Hana quietly climbed out of the pod.

_Let's go get Victor._

_Right_.

They crept up to pod 780, where Victor stood in wait.

"dop siht kcolnu." She whispered again, and the pod opened. He quietly stepped out.

_**Where to next?**_

_Uh… air vent! Hana, where is it?_

_To the left. Turn here._

They turned around a corner and saw the air vent covering.

**Lena?**

_On it._

"Rood tnev eht nepo." She whispered, and the door opened.

**Who's first?**

_Hana?_

_Why me?_

_**You're the smallest.**_

_Oh._

Hana gluped and bent down in front of the door. Suddenly,

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP ESCAPE ATTEMPT. ESCAPE ATTEMPT!

"What!?" Lena cried, breaking the invisibility spell she had cast on them.

"Oh no! How did they find out!?" Hana cried, suddenly, someone was rounding the corner.

It was Lila.

"Lila?!"

"Lena? Hana? Victor? What are you guys doing here?" Lila was hold a bow.

"You just blew our cover!" Lena hissed.

"Now I can't even get Kinder!" Lila cursed.

"STOP THEM!" yelled a voice. They could hear troops in pursuit of them. "Let's go!" Hana said, climbing in the vent. "What? I can leave Kinder!" Lila protested. Lena climbed in after Hana, leaving Victor and Lila.

"If you don't leave now, we'll never get Kinder out." Victor grabbed her arm and pushed her in the air vent. He jumped in after her and shut the vent door.

"Go!" he ordered. Hana climbed forwards and they all scrambled like rats in a maze. "Which way?"

"YOU DON'T KNOW?!" screeched Lena to Hana. "I thought you knew!" Hana retorted. "I don't plan these things! You should know that!" Victor glared at them. "Enough! We just need to go up."

"Oh crap!" Lila moaned. "What?" Lila pointed to a black box. "Motion sensors."

"Got it!" Lena said. "sroesnes noitom eht lla llik!" she said.

"Okay, I took of them. Let's go! Now!"

She looked up. "Here!" She climbed up monkey style.

'Oh wait." She looked down at her friends." Etativel!" she said. she and the others began to flot.

"Whoa." Lila muttered.

"Keep going up!" called Victor from the bottom. They moved upwards until they finally reached the top.

"How far are we?"

"How would I know?" muttered Lena. She climbed on the wings of the vent. "Okay!" she said once everyone was up. "We go. Right?"

"Right." Agreed Lila. The climbed right until they finally reached another vent. Lena kicked it opena dn slid out. "Oh…" she muttered. They were in the lobby of a building. The ground floor,or the first floor. But…

"Oh crap…"

Troopers. Ton of them, with loaded guns. Lena looked over at Hana and the others. LLila dropped her bow and they all raised their hands.

"Come along, now. " said a doctor in a white lab coat.

_Now!_

Lila kicked up her bow and fired an arrow, causing grey smoke to fill the room. "Emoks emoceb a dlofdnilb!" spoke Lena as the smoke swirled around them.

"Which way?"

"The door!" Hana said. They made a run for the exit. And they pulled on the door.

"It's locked!" Lena cried.

"ARE YOU A MAGIC USER OR NOT!?"

"Oh yeah."

"Look out!" Lila cried. Lena whirled around to see explosives being fired at them "Um…Etaerc a... a... dleihs dnuora ym!" she tried, but failed to say the right spell. Hana used her powers to push Lena out of the way, but slamming her into the wall. A fire of gun shots went on and Victor cried out.

"Victor!"

"I'M OKAY! Go, go!"

"What the hell?" asked Lena

"I don't only have telepathic powers!" Hana was floating.

Hana freaking Wu was floating.

She threw her hand out causing a wave of troops to fall. "Get the doors open!" she order. Victor jumped out of the way of gun fire while Lila fired arrows. "Rood siht kcolnu!" Lena said and pulled on the door.

"Rood siht kcolnu!" she cried again. This time she pushed and pulled the door to make sure she wasn't being stupid.

"Rood siht kcolnu! Rood siht kcolnu! Rood siht kcolnu!" she cried again and again.

"No good! It's magic proof."

"A bullet proof." Growled Victor. "Arrow proof too!" Lila complained. "I have an idea." Victor said. "On the count of three, aim for the roof."

"What!?"

"One, two, three!" Victor said, not waiting. He threw his knife up. And Lila fired he arrows up, And Hana finished the deal by using her powers to blow the roof off the building, which began to crumple. Rocks started to rain down on everybody.

"sdneirf ym dliehs!" Lena cried. There was smoke and ash, but no one got hit with any large rocks thanks to Lena's spell. A rock crashed through the window, giving a hole large enough for them to climb through. Lila went first, followed by Lena then Hana. Victor smashed the hole bigger and then climbed through last. They stumbled away from the crumbling building blindly, until finally it crumpled to the ground.

Lila held her bow back at the building. No one came out.

"We… did it…." Lena laughed and hugged Hana, jumping and up and down. Hana was grinning. "We did it! I can't believe we did it!"

Victor grinned at Lila and Lila grinned back. They were free! Free! It felt so good.

"Look." Lila whispered looking up.

All four looked up at the moon. It was so big and white and perfect… Everything was perfect. Until...

"Oh crap…" muttered Lila. She pointed her bow and arrow down as people began to arrive. Some flew in, others being carried by other, some just by running. Victor kept his hand on his gun and Lena pulled out her spell book. Hana kept her hands ready. They stood side by side. One of the people walked up to them He was in all black, and very scary.

"Explain what went on here." He said. Victor gasped a little and the three girls looked at him. He held his right hand to his left side. They all looked at the guy in all black, then looked back at Victor.

_Bad idea._ Hana said

_We need to leave._ Lena said

_Now._

_Really? I hadn't thought of that._

**Ow. Victor said**

_I got it guys! _Lila said. She felt her hand move towards her last smoke arrow.

_Go!_

Quickly, she loaded the arrow and fired it, causing smoke to fly everywhere, coating them. "Ekoms dna srorrim…su edih !" commanded Lena.

Hana grabbed Victor and they all ran.

The ran into a forest, crashing into trees several times. "Where are we going?" Asked Lila.  
"Away, from them!"

Suddenly, Hana felt someone enter her mind.

_Hey! Get out!_

**Sorry! But I have to stop you.**

_What!? You'll just put us back in Cadmus. No way_.

**No! I swear we won't.**

_How do I know you're not lying?_

**You just have to trust me.**

_Trust is something that is abused. I don't have any time to be talking with you, one of my friends has been shot and the other two are fighting about which way to go._

**Then you leave me no choice. I'm sorry about this!**

A loud, piercing noise entered all of their heads. "Ah!" each of them fell to their knees, gripping their heads. Hana saw the others fall to the ground, and so did she. Her world went blurry as the figures approached them. A girl with green skin leaned over her. "I'm sorry."

Hana's world went black.

**Dun…dun…dun What do you think will happen next to the four that escaped? What about the others they left behind? Review please!**


	3. Chapter 3

"M'gann, what on earth happened back there?" asked Tigress. "One moment it's just a normal break in, and the next thing I know, the cops are all over the place! Did you blow up something?"

"W-what?" replied the Martian, a little distracted. They were in the back room of the newly re-built Hall of Justice. It was 3 in the morning, and everything just… sucked.

"What happened?" repeated Tigress.

"Oh, um. Cadmus. There were a few kids from Cadmus. Clones, runaways. I don't know. They were so freaked, I had to knock them out mentally. Where's Superboy?"

Tigress shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe in the Watch Tower."

Miss Martian shot up to her feet. "Oh, no! We can't have that! Superboy can't be near the Cadmus kids! It'll bring back bad memories."

Tigress got up with her. "He can handle himself, M'gann." She put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Don't worry, we'll figure this out."

She shook her head. "I don't know. They seemed so scared, Artemis. One of girls… there was three of them, and a boy. One of the girls I talked with physically. She was really scared, untrusting. It was like she had been through a lot." She paused, remembering. "I bet they left some other kids behind."

Before Tigress could respond, the door opened to the backroom.

It wasn't who they were expecting. It was a girl, yes. But not a blonde. It wasn't Black Canary.

The girl had long black hair that was tied tightly into the ponytail. She wore an all-black tight jumpsuit, like she was a spy. She also wore a black mask, similar to Tigress's.

"Very likely." She responded to the Martian's comment. "My records show of Cadmus existing, but not having any test subjects. Should have checked it out sooner."

Both girls stared at her.

"Um, who are you?" asked Tigress.

The girl looked a little surprised. "You haven't seen me in the Watch Tower?"

They both shook their heads.

"Oh. I'm Black Cat. I was undercover in Lex Corp until a little while ago when my cover was blown. I came back here to find… this." She shook her head. "Cadmus is insane, still testing even after the first time Superboy got out of there."

Tigress and Miss Martian both looked at each other than back at Black Cat. "What are you doing here?" asked Tigress.

"Right. Forgot, sorry. Miss Martian, Black Canary wants you at the Watch Tower. You can go to, if you want, Tigress."

Miss Martian stood up straighter. "Why?"

"One of the Cadmus girls is awake. She wants to talk to you."

**Okay, this one is short. I have to get back into the game. For those of you who DO read my comments, I'M SO SORRY! *sobs* I GOT GROUNDED FOR SKATE BOARDING OFF MY ROOF INTO MY POOL AND I JUST GOT MY COMPUTER BACK! I'm going to update a lot now, and a huge thanks to Twin Masks for being a faithful reader! I'll update later this week, with a (hopefully) longer chapter!**

**Peace and Mist (for now),**

**Rlb190**


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